Follow the Fader

Buddy f. Kendrick Lamar, “Staircases” (Prod. by The Neptunes) MP3

Pharrell’s child-of-the-’90s protégé Buddy’s "Staircases" cut, featuring fellow Comptonite Kendrick Lamar—a song that seems to have been incubating since last summer—has at long last made its way into the world. While the chorus' gratuitously literal catalogue of building elements that "get you high"—escalators, ladders, staircases—doesn't inspire much awe or personal reflection, that dumbness actually magnifies the song's buoyant, summer-lounging vibe. Instead of struggling to remember all the different ways of getting to the mall's second floor, you can relax on the porch, sip slowly and squint at cars while the Buddy and Lamar unfurl their verses like clumps of grass they've plucked up, rolled in their palms and flicked out over the sidewalk.